


Cliffhanger

by Sineala



Category: Avengers (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Avengers Vol. 3 (1998), Blood and Injury, Community: cap_ironman, Danger, First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Peril, Stony Bingo, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-10-15 10:39:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17527229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sineala/pseuds/Sineala
Summary: Just an ordinary day for two perfectly ordinary superheroes, one of whom is currently dangling over a very deep pit while clinging desperately to the other one's hand.





	Cliffhanger

**Author's Note:**

> For Cap-IM Bingo, the square with an image of AA Steve and Tony holding hands. Except I decided to set this in 616 Avengers v3 instead. Nothing about v3 is really relevant; I just like v3.
> 
> Thanks to Isozyme for the plot suggestion!

Steve probably recognized the scene better than Tony did, from his childhood full of matinee serials: the cliffhanger.

They'd almost finished clearing the underground AIM base when the bomb went off. The blast took out the bottom ten levels in a fireball that fried Tony's suit. With the remaining emergency power, he was able to claw his way back up, a foot from the top of the hole, and that was when the suit gave out entirely. He slipped, tumbled back--

\--and Steve grabbed his wrist.

"Tony!"

Tony tilted his head back up -- or tried to -- and squinted through the dim eyeslits. Steve wasn't pulling him back up, and his grip didn't feel very secure. Blood ran down Tony's gauntlet in rivulets, but his hands didn't hurt. It took his dizzy, dazed mind another five seconds to process that he was cutting into Steve's fingers with the jagged metal of his armor.

Steve groaned, a terrible sound, and his grip wavered.

"Steve?"

"Broke my goddamn arm," Steve said, teeth gritted and, yeah, Tony could just barely see him now. There was blood drying on his face and his left arm was held out at a sickening angle, a compound-fracture kind of angle, while his right arm was the only thing keeping six hundred pounds of Tony and his broken armor from plunging to a messy death.

Steve's grip was shaking, and as Tony watched, Steve started to slide forward. Tony was going to pull them both over the edge. Why had he made this model so heavy? What the hell had he been thinking?

Their eyes met.

"Let go," Tony rasped. "You know it's the only way."

Steve's jaw tightened. "You'll die."

"If you don't let go," Tony said, "we'll both die. You can't lift me like this."

Steve's eyes were fire. "I'm not leaving you!"

At least now he knew how Steve would solve the trolley problem, he thought, delirious. Tony dipped even lower as Steve slid forward another few inches. Soon, soon, his center of balance was going to be too close to the edge, and then it would all be over. He wondered what the rest of the Avengers would think when they found their bodies, if they would blame him for Steve's death.

He could barely even see Steve through the darkened eyeslits; he had to keep squinting. It was going to be the last thing Tony would ever see, and he couldn't even really see him at all. Frustrated, he reached up with the hand that Steve hadn't grabbed, scrabbling at the armor with dented gauntlets until he found the emergency release for the faceplate. It clicked, and Tony ripped the faceplate away and let it fall.

He could see Steve now, Steve's agonized gaze tracking the faceplate as it tumbled away into the void, just like he was about to--

Wait.

"Hold tight, okay, Cap?"

Steve gave a grim nod, and Tony heard the plates around his wrist creak. More blood dripped down his arm.

He fumbled, slammed the release catch on his hip, and -- please, please, yes -- the whole right leg of the armor slithered off, boot and all, falling away. He couldn't get to the one on his left hip, but he dug his fingers in, left armpit and then right shoulder, under the pauldron, and he felt the chest and backplate unlatch. The heaviest pieces. If he could get them, it would be enough. And then he wanted to cry, because they were still stuck lower down, since the left leg couldn't come off, and he wasn't going to make it--

"I've got you," Steve said. "Shake it loose."

He couldn't. He couldn't possibly. He was going to pull Steve over for sure.

"I've got you, Tony," Steve repeated. "Trust me."

He couldn't ever say no to that.

Tony twisted in midair, trying to rip the rest of the armor away, and then it came free all at once, chestplate and backplate coming apart and sliding off him. He still had a boot and gauntlet on, and most of the helmet, but it had to be enough, didn't it? He had to be light enough now. Steve was shaking with the strain. Oh, God, it wasn't enough, it wasn't, and Steve was shaking so much--

Steve was _lifting him_.

Steve was groaning, and there were tears on his face, but he was pulling and pulling and Tony was coming up.

An inch, an inch, another inch, and Tony could reach the edge himself with his other hand, and he pulled himself up the last few inches and then over onto the floor as Steve rolled back, gasping. His hand was still wrapped tight around Tony's wrist, blood leaking from between his gloved fingers.

"Hey," Tony breathed. "Hey, Winghead, you did it. You can let go now, okay?"

He peeled away Steve's fingers and winced at the shredded flesh beneath the leather. When Tony looked up from Steve's hand, Steve was staring at him, dazed, disbelieving, and struggling to push himself up -- on his _broken _arm, Jesus, what was he thinking? He didn't appear to be thinking. Tony got an arm around Steve, gauntlet scraping on mail, and pushed him the rest of the way up before he killed himself trying to sit up.__

__Steve was looking at him wide-eyed, like he couldn't quite believe any of that had happened. That was probably shock. They needed to get out of here and get Steve a doctor._ _

__"I'm okay," Tony said, making his voice as calming as possible. "I'm all right. You saved me, okay? You did great. But now we have to get out of here."_ _

__Steve nodded jerkily, leaned forward and-- kissed him._ _

__Kissed him?_ _

__Steve's mouth was hot, and he smelled like sweat and blood, and he was leaning against Tony, falling into Tony like Tony had pulled him down after all._ _

__It wasn't like Tony hadn't wanted this, but now really wasn't the time._ _

__He broke the kiss. "Steve," he murmured against Steve's jaw, "I am all in favor of this, but we have to go, okay?"_ _

__Steve's gaze was clouded and sad. Tony thought maybe he'd only noticed the part where Tony had stopped kissing him. "Oh."_ _

__"We get out of here and I'll kiss you again," Tony said, and okay, yeah, that got him a smile._ _

__"Promise?"_ _

__"I promise," Tony said, as he stood up and very carefully took Steve's hand._ _

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr post](http://sineala.tumblr.com/post/182263727764/fic-cliffhanger)!


End file.
